HGV Driver Hours

This is a very simple outline of the HGV drivers hours rules:
There are various rule refinements and vehicle exemptions see Drivers Hours Exemptions for more information.
The Domestic rules allow more driving time. However the drivers’ hours rules are complex and have a number of variables and that’s even before we begin to consider the drivers version of the working time directive rules which is also known as the Road Transport Directive.

To get a full understanding of the EU Drivers’ Hours rules take a look at the range of online courses and use this discount code “hgvdh15″ to get 25% off your first order

The 4.5 hour rule?

You cannot drive for longer than 4.5 hours without taking a break of at least 45 minutes. Taking this break causes a fresh 4.5 hour period of drive to begin.

Note – See the rules on breaks to ensure you do not break the 4.5 hour rule.

Mandatory breaks

You may take the 45 minute break in 2 sections. The first section must be at least 15 minutes and the second section at least 30 minutes. You cannot have these breaks the other way around. If you take anything less than 45 minutes then you must take a second break of at least 30 minutes.

You must have at least 15 minutes of continuous break in order for it to count as a break. Anything less will be recorded as other work.

Note – Any break taken before drive begins will not be taken into account. I.e. You must begin driving before you could qualify for having had a 15 minute break.

The Daily Drive Rule

You may drive up to 9 hours in a day. You can increase this 9 hours to 10 hours up to twice in a fixed week.

The Weekly Drive Rule

You can drive up to 56 hours in a fixed week. You can accumulate this drive over no more than 6 consecutive duties within a fixed week.

The Fortnightly Drive Rule

You can drive no more than 90 hours within 2 consecutive weeks. This is any 2 weeks together, and the rolling total must not exceed 90 hours.

* I.e. After completing 2 weeks of work you do NOT begin a fresh 2 week period. You must include the last week in the current week’s calculation for your fortnightly totals.

Calculating your daily rest

The standard daily rest requirement is 11 hours within a 24 hour period. This means the rest must begin no later than 13 hours after the duty has begun.

E.g. If you began at 6:00 am you must finish by 19:00 in order to have 11 hours daily rest. Even if you actually take off more than 11 hours, you cannot physically record 11 hours if you work more than 13 hours.

You can reduce your daily rest to no less than 9 hours within a 24 hour period up to 3 times in a week. This mean your total duty cannot exceed 15 hours in total. There is no compensation required for this reduction.

During your duty you may take a long period of break, (at least 3 hours) which may be counted towards your daily rest for that day. If you do this, you must still take the minimum of 9 hours within the 24 hour period.

Working Out Your Weekly Rest

The standard weekly rest requirement is 45 hours after no more than 6 consecutive duties. You may reduce this to a minimum of 24 hours which must then be compensated for by the end of the third week following the reduced weekly rest. You may compensate before this time, and it must be compensated for in full on the end of another daily or weekly rest period.

Warning – You must not have 2 reduced weekly rests in a row, even if you have immediately compensated in between.

How Does Double Manning Affect things?

When involving a second driver the period for calculating daily rest becomes a 30 hour period instead of a 24 hour period. This means that the total duty cannot exceed 21 hours.

In order to qualify for double manning, both drivers have to be present for the entire duty. The one exception to this is the first hour for which first driver has the opportunity to prepare the vehicle or collect the second driver. Both drivers must commence their daily rest at the same time, which means the vehicle cannot be moving at this time.

It is possible for one driver to be on break while the other drives, unless the idle driver is doing any form of work such as navigation or paperwork.

Note – All of the rules for breaks are the same as in a single man operation.

The Rules Change For Ferry Journeys

When taking part in a Ferry Crossing you may ignore interruptions to your daily rest as long as you do not interrupt it more than twice (Once to get on the ferry and once to get off).

Also, these interruptions may not exceed more than 1 hour in total. If the interruptions are within these factors then they are counted towards the rest period and ignored entirely.

If you have interrupted your rest in this way, then you must take a regular daily rest period of at least 11 hours. You may not have a reduced daily rest.

In a situation where your interruptions exceed 1 hour in total you will be required to take your full daily rest as normal and all events prior to the rest will be included in your previous duty.

Out of Scope Working Rules

Out of scope driving is driving that takes place on roads which are not the public highway. All driving done out of scope does not count towards your driving time and instead counts as other work.

Note – If you drive for any amount of time on a public highway, then all driving you for the remainder of that day will count as driving, even if it is off road.

Night Work Rules

A night work is defined as a duty that takes place entirely or partly between the hours of midnight and 4am for HGV drivers. For PSV drivers the hours differ slightly and are between 1am and 5am.

During a night work duty, you may not exceed 10 hours of working within a 24 hour period. This 24 hour period begins as soon as you begin you first duty in a working week. (i.e. After weekly rest has been taken)

This 10 hour limit does not include breaks and periods of availability.

As a result, you could still legally complete up to a 15 hour shift by having enough Break and POA.

Note – You can opt out of this rule through a collective or workforce agreement.

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For a comprehensive explanation of the Drivers Hours Rules and how they work alongside the Road Transport Directive get the Drivers Hours Handbook, which fully explains all the rules with real working examples. Making it simple not only to understand but also to explain to others if needed.

Testimonials

The Drivers Hours Handbook is great. It breaks down all of the the complicated European Laws and makes them so easy to understand. All of the same information is out there in government manuals but it is so difficult to understand that I had never really understood certain parts of the driver hours rules and how it fitted in with the working time directive.
The way everything is explained in this manual makes it so easy to understand and the real life examples just help to confirm that unders…

Dave Henderson

Until we found your website we were operating illegally with no idea about the rules. I don’t know how we got away with it for so long but I just want to thank Chris for all his advice and John for helping us set up the systems we needed to stay on the right side of VOSA.

Nathan McGregor

We use the driver training dvd all the time. When i get the tachograph reports back the worst two drivers are pulled into the office and made to watch the dvd before starting their shift. Just doing this has reduced the number of infringements by over 60%. I also like your emails each week, they have helped us improve our transport department over the last 9 months.

Michael Johnson

I have provided all my drivers with a copy of the drivers hours handbook and the feedback has been brilliant. The difference in the number of driver hours offences is already noticeable after only a month. When you add up all the potential fines from 63 drivers it can be very costly so I can already see how this has saved us money.

Andy Golightly

I just received the Driver Hours Guard and have picked it up straight away. It is a brilliant product and well worth the money cheers

Michael James

The driver hours handbook is much easier to understand than the long winded VOSA manual. I will recommend it to other drivers. Thanks

Don White

I just wanted to say thank you for the drivers hours handbook. It is a brilliant and easy to understand guide of the drivers hours rules and I have used it over and over again to teach my drivers about the drivers hours law. I have also given all the drivers the in cab guide sheet too and the drivers all use.